LONDON/MILAN (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse and other banks have curbed trips to Italy amid fears that the coronavirus outbreak across the north of the country could quickly spread across Europe, sources said.

Lazard, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank also rushed to warn staff against all "non-essential travel" to northern Italy, four sources told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as banking policies are confidential.

Bankers working on sensitive deals were told to seek special permission from top management if they still wanted to fly into Milan, Bologna or other northern Italian towns, the sources said.

Goldman said its travel restrictions applied to Italy's Lombardy and Veneto regions, as well as to South Korea. It also advised staff against travel to, from and within the rest of Italy.

Both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs told staff across Europe, the Middle East and Africa that they needed to isolate themselves and stay away from the office for at least 14 days if they had recently returned from northern Italy.

JPMorgan stressed that regardless of any flu symptoms people who had recently visited Italy's most impacted municipalities would need to follow a 14-day quarantine.

Japanese bank Nomura was first to adopt a rigorous approach by restricting client visits to all countries with coronavirus cases, including France, one of the sources said.

"They are all grounded," this source said referring to Nomura's bankers in Milan.

Italian private equity funds including Clessidra SGR and Armonia SGR, as well as state-backed funds Fondo FSI and Fondo Italiano d'Investimento, have cancelled their planned attendance at the SuperReturn conference in Berlin where they were set to talk about buyout deals in Italy.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday the economic fallout from the outbreak could be "very strong" but said he was hopeful the contagion would soon come under control.

"I can't say I'm not worried ... but I'm confident we'll have a containing effect in the next few days," he said.

(Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia and Sinead Cruise in London and Valentina Za in Milan; Additional reporting by Maya Nikolaeva, Chibuike Oguh, Stephen Jewkes and Clara Denina; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Alistair Bell)